[URBAN NOTE] Two links on social networks and migration from Ireland to Toronto

[rfmcdonald]

The theme of contemporary Irish migration to Toronto, in the wake of Ireland's economic collapse, is something I touched on in a November post at Demography Matters. A weekend Torontoist post, Sarah-Joyce Battersby's "An Irish Sport Gains Popularity in Toronto", mentions that the sport of Gaelic football provides a useful framework for contemporary Irish migrants to Toronto.

[W]ith a new wave of Irish immigrants coming to find work in Canada, the sport has taken on a special role.

“The Toronto GAA has taken it on to make our best efforts to take care of people coming over,” spokesperson John Creery told us. “When you come over, the most important thing is to find work and a home. The Irish community in general is good, and they’re realy helpful, but the GAA community in particular is great for that.”

That’s how Creery got settled when he moved to Canada in 2001 from Lugan, a small town in County Armagh. Creery had been playing Gaelic football all his life. Soon after moving to Toronto, he met a team coach. “When he heard my accent he wanted me to come play for him,” said Creery.

Most of Creery’s friends are people he met through the Gaelic football community. And he said people involved in the sport look out for one another, helping new recruits find out about job prospects, apartments, and the Canadian way of life.

The support is helpful not only to the players, but also to their families in Ireland. “This way,” Creery said, “families back home know their loved one is being welcomed and taken care of, and has someone here to look in on them.”

A Toronto Star article even mentions that the St. Patrick's Day parade was a convenient venue for some Irish looking for employment in Canada.

Damien Lenihan could use some of that mythical luck of the Irish.

The 33 year old Dublin native, who came to Toronto last September, is looking for work — and a future in Canada.

“Every time I ring home, everyone says ‘Don’t come back, things are really bad, you’re not missing anything,’ ” he says. “Everyone seems really depressed.”

On Sunday, he shivered in a light leather jacket and hoodie as Toronto’s 26th St. Patrick’s Day passed on Queen St. W. Lenihan recognized Mayor Rob Ford, and seemed to approve of the floats and bands. But he spent most of the parade asking questions about jobs and life in Canada.

“I don’t think the media portrays just how bad it is (back home),” he laments.

[. . .]

“I know people who have been out of work for four years,” says Lenihan. “They’re struggling to get by. It is scary.”

Still, as cold as it was on Sunday, Lenihan was basking in the warmth of a new group of friends, thanks to a meet-up organized online by the Irish Association of Toronto.

“It’s like they’re strangers in a strange land, and they’re coming in the hundreds and thousands because the economy is so awful there,” explains Leah Morrigan, a proud holder of dual citizenship and the association’s vice-president. “This is good fun because a lot of the Irish don’t have anybody to latch on to. We like to be a bit of a welcoming committee for them.”